I would say that a annular tear in it's self is painful as he!!.. I had a severe tear at the l5-s1 and DDD, only a smaller central disc protrusion. I had severe sciatica and it was from the annular tear mostly. The doc called it chemical radicular pain. Smae as true sciatica from nerves being compromised. The 1 thing I would worry about being u fell like u did is that u may have injured your SI Joint. This can hurt like he!! and hard to confirm. Images don't always show a whole lot. I can tell u that I had a fusion to fix my DDD and annular tear and it helped some but has increased the pain in SI Joint to a point it's excruciating. I will now be having that joint fused next year. But I will say annular tears small or large are very painful. Your Facet joints or SI Joint may be a lot of your issues IMO.. Good luck!!

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